The Da Vinci Code Course in Pacing a Story
The actual literary merit of Dan Brown's novel 'The Da Vince Code' is debated heavily. The historical accuracy and factual accuracy of much of the book is likewise debated heavily. The book's ability to make readers keep reading is well documented and very impressive. Nothing is more upsetting to a Game Master than not being able to finish a campaign. In order to finish a campaign, a Game Master must hold the player's interest over several months perhaps more than a year. Most people play once a week, a good Game Master wants the players stewing and wondering about the next game and what is going to happen next all week. In order to do this, we need to take a page from 'The Da Vinci Code'. Dan Brown follows two iron clad rules in all of his books, in fact these are basic rules of writing good gripping page turning novels- 'The Da Vinci Code' is simply a good example of this. The two rules are as follows: first always make things worse for the heroes, and second always end the chapter on a cliffhanger- preferably with a disaster. Most Game Masters like to end the game on a mellow note- the adventure is done, hurray for the heroes, here's the magic items, here's the experience. The problem is that this ends the players’ involvement in the world and the story that the Game Master has worked so hard to create. Now unless time is an issue, it does us no good to end a game right at the good part- this will only annoy the players (unless there really is a time issue- then they will usually understand). So in order to end the game and find a 'fair' (in the minds of the players) place to give experience while still making things worse and creating a cliffhanger a game master must draw the player's attention to the larger story at the end of each adventure. This can be done by giving a reversal of sorts. The players save the prince, only to discover that the his father the king wanted him rescued so that the boy can be sacrificed to dark gods- it turns out the kidnappers worked for the boy's exiled mother. Now, the adventure is clearly done, but things have gotten worse and the players are likely interested. Likewise the introduction of an old villain or new villain at the end of the adventure in some situation where the players would be idiots to rush the evil doer is a good way of capturing the players’ interest, but it should not be overused. Another alternative is to have the characters learn, during the post-adventure wrap up, how what they did ties in to the larger events (don't give too much away at a time), this once again increases the stakes and hopefully puts the characters in more danger. Another option is to make a multi-tiered adventure so that there is only time for one part per session. The players play to the end point, and then end that session with a re-cap of what must be done to finish the whole adventure. Another option, one that works well when an adventure is actually over, is to drop in a few mysteries. Rumors or odd items, scraps of information or similar all work well. All such mysteries shouldn't lead right into the next adventure- that would be too predictable. Often after a big adventure a one shot adventure is a great way to blow off steam, as well as being a great way to seed the players with hints of the next story and slowly lead them back into a larger campaign. Always remember not to let the session end without adding something that the players can ponder in the intervening time. It's also good to include a recap of the story and the stakes and any outstanding mysteries in your reminder email in order to keep the interest up.